I've been a lurker on this thread for a while now and thought it was time I started joining in on the conversation. I've gotten back into pinball within the last year and have been finding more and more locations to play (much to the chagrin of my wife). I'm now looking at buying my first machine and am going between getting either a solid state (thinking a system 11 machine) like taxi/or a 90's DMD machine or jumping in and getting a NIB machine. Part of the reason I'm leaning NIB is I'm not confident dealing with the second hand market. I don't want to get taken for a ride from a seller as I'm not experienced with fixing a machine...yet. I fully prepared to learn but just haven't had any experience with repairs obviously.

I'm in Hudson. Right across the boarder from the Twin Cities, on the "correct" side of the river!

Appreciate the feed back. One of my concerns is finding a decent title at the $2,500 price point. As others pointed out prices are out of control so it's pretty difficult to find a decent machine. I guess I need to get into more of a detective mode and start turning over every rock.

Curious to know the barriers of entry on a NIB pin? Simply more complicated, costly? I realize there will be plenty of adjustments to dial in the new machine and things are going to break and need repair, same as with a $2,500 machine.

Yeah, I need to find a good league to join or something. Work schedule makes it hard to drive 30+ mins to join a decent league. I've looked up your location and will plan to make a trip over soon.

Thanks!

Most EMs I've found fun to play but owning one just isn't up my alley at this point. One exception is Hi-Deal, a Bally from 1975. My family owned this pin growing up but sadly was damaged during a move. Was too young at the time to convince my parents to keep it around to get repaired.

Tongue and cheek statement only. I love living in a small town near the Twin Cities. Absolutely looking for any league that's relatively close to me.

Stopped by the "Pinball at the fair" arcade at the MN State Fair yesterday to check out deadpool. (It's in the arcade right next door to the butterfly house.) Thought the game shot great, agree there are some tight shots, but overall very satisfying. Only got to put one game in as we were heading for the exit for the day. Looking forward to next weekend so I can stop in again and hopefully get a few more games in. Initial impression is iron maiden over deadpool, but deadpool isn't a flop by any means.

Wow! Congrats on the baby! The game room looks like it will be amazing when it's finally finished. Looking forward to seeing pictures when it's fully loaded with your machines!

Hey all, so I made it out to St. Paul Tap last night and thought I'd share my two cents. They have a decent line up of recent sterns and the obligatory Addams Family. Of course, the Addams Family wasn't working, but they did have a tech (or a guy that appeared to be a tech) working on it. The machines all use a play card which connects via wifi like Dave and Busters. I'm glad I know where the power buttons are on the new sterns as I had to power cycle a few machines so they would connect and accept the pay swipes. All the pins were 5.5 credits per swipe with two swipes getting you 3 plays (works out to just over a $1 a credit). Seemed a little pricey, but if it means well maintained pins over time I'm good with it. Overall the machines played great, the beer selection is decent, food wasn't anything to rave about but glad there is another location with a decent lineup of pins on the East side.

Anyone else have a review of this new location?

The Munster's launch party at St. Paul Tap looks awesome! I'll be flying back from New Orleans on the 10th, so I probably won't make it in time. Are there plans for regular meet ups/leagues? I'd be interested on getting to know people in the local scene, just hard to find time these days.

Anyone close to the owner/operator at St. Paul Tap? Looks like they are working on opening another location in Hudson, WI?!? At least I'm assuming it's the same owner, the signage looks to be a similar design. If this is the case, I'm super excited!

The address is 417 2nd street, Hudson, WI. It's taking over from the short lived Mexican restaurant on the main drag. Parking won't be fun, but the location will certainly get a lot of foot traffic.

It will be very interesting to see how many machines they are able to pack in there. As LesManley said it's a pretty small location to begin with.

Dick's still has the Iron Maiden as of last week. It needs a good cleaning and some attention. The bulls eye target gets stuck and the ball gets hung up on the post back there as well.

Smilin Moose does have a Star Wars Pro with it set at .50 cents a game with the replay score set pretty low as well. It's still on old code so it's pretty cheap to play.

I believe they are both operated by the same company who clearly don't care about the machines too much. No code updates and machines could use a nice cleaning. I can't complain too much as they are the only machines on location in town unless you want to go play a beat up Jokerz machine at Hop n Barrel.

The bar across the street is Ziggy's (formally known as Pudge's) I've been meaning to stop in and find the music pins. I read an article in the local paper suggesting the pins are only available for private events.

I'm so excited for Hudson Tap, I drove by last night and saw a delivery truck outside, pretty sure they were delivering pins. Or at least my excitement was assuming they were delivering pins!

I think you are thinking of another place up in Somerset. Dibbo's used to be just down the street from Pudge's it too has changed. Lot's of remolding/turn over in Hudson over the past few years. Downtown is pretty cleaned up, still have Dick's Bar for the dive bar fans out there and they have an Iron Maiden pin too!

Hudson Tap is now open in downtown Hudson! Highly recommended for those of you in the East Metro. Website: https://www.hudsontap.com/ They have a decent line up of 5 machines. Munsters LE, Star Wars, Deadpool, Guardians, and Addams Family. Guardians needs a good cleaning and all the newer Sterns appear to be on early code, but other than that machines were in good working order. Any one have experience with the Pinball Leagues at the St. Paul location?

Fantastic! I know the games at the St. Paul location are in great condition and I'm really hopeful the Aspen Vending guys can keep up with things in Hudson. Glad to here they are keeping busy!

Side note, the player cards can be used at either location. And beer selection is great.

I'd be in on a pin or two in a bit better condition. Obviously, I'd be willing to pay more then the $363 per machine for better condition.

*Sarcasm*

I was fine with one Canadian lurker, but two? Now this is getting out of hand! <insert bag of dicks reference>

Just left the fair. Played 4 or 5 games on JP. Flippers were sloppy and a little weak. My (hope) guess is it has been getting a lot of plays. Looking forward to playing it at Hudson Tap when it shows up.

I'm guessing it's also a way to increase their price per game. I don't remember exactly but I thought you would get a "deal" by getting $20 worth of tokens at a time and get X number for Free tokens. Making the switch to quarters would obviously eliminate this and increase the revenue per game. I'm sure this wouldn't be a huge increase or the main reason to make the switch, but interesting to note nonetheless.

I'm interested in joining. I couldn't make the first week but I'm planning to come next week.

Anyone know who operates the Munsters Pro at the Xcel center? The machine desperately needs a bill acceptor or a change machine near by. I scrounged up a new quarters to play a few games, but there isn't anywhere to get change.

It was a nice break in between games this weekend for the Hockey Tournament.

Just bring quarters! None of the vendors at the Xcel can make change, as in there are no quarters! All prices are in round dollars.

Tom, What left? Munsters?

No joke, downtown is crazy busy in the evening. If you can swing it head over around midday during the week. All bars/restaurants are required to close at 10 PM due to the number of police calls lately. It is pretty amusing to count MN license plates vs. WI plates. Typically 10 to 1 for MN. Come enjoy/support our business

Machines are usually playing in great shape and rarely super busy. Before/after you head to Knoke's stop at Hop and Barrel for some really good beer.

Posting details as I know the tech is on the tread:
Had a chance to swing over to St Paul Tap. Was really looking forward to playing a few games of Mandalorian. Unfortunately the center ramp had reject issues with the diverter which basically eliminated access to the upper playfield. Multiballs were fun to play.

Guns and roses card reader was dead so couldn’t play that either.

Ended up spending a lot of time on Turtles and liked that more than I thought. Top lane divider was loose and need to be tightened down and the right in lane switch needs to be adjusted had a few stuck balls that I needed to nudge loose but played fine.

Looking forward to a return trip if/when things get adjusted or fixed.